Open source review would aid Windows security: Gartner

Aargh... Not the garlic

Microsoft should dump security via obscurity, and submit its software to open source review, according to Gartner.

The open source review bit is something so utterly alien, communist and horrible to the mind of Bill Gates that it's almost worth us running a competition to find what he'd rather do (Sacrifice of firstborn? Auction wife on eBay? Tell Steve Jobs he was right?) - but actually, Gartner is perpetrating a small piece of sensationalism by saying it agrees with Gates about security, "and believes that open source review of Microsoft's code is necessary to meet security goals."

Which is not the same as saying this is what Bill believes, but they had us going for a moment there.

Gartner contrasts the assertion by Jim Allchin, Microsoft's senior vice president for Windows, that Windows boxes would be more vulnerable to attack if the company had to disclose technical information to rivals with previous pronouncements by his Billness.

But computer hackers have had little difficulty breaking into Microsoft's closed-source software, it notes.

Gartner analyst John Pescatore writes : "a strategy of relying on security through obscurity (hiding source code) has already proven a failure for Microsoft. To make future products more trustworthy, Microsoft will have to become more expert at developing code that can withstand external review."

Over the long term open documentation and public review of program interfaces between OSs and applications will lead to better security for Microsoft, Gartner believes, even though it notes some short term problems.

"Attackers may exploit the exposed interfaces in the short term as the process brings to light existing yet undiscovered vulnerabilities. But this approach simply means that insecure code will become secure more rapidly," Pescatore writes.

Allchin's belief that security offers a valid reason to reject making source code visible is misplaced, the analysts conclude.

The disclosure by Microsoft of technical information to rivals, which would allow them to make sure their software works better with Windows, is among the remedies put forward by the nine dissenting states during the current anti-trust trial. ®